Great Grandma Kane made mince meat pie every year for Christmas when I was a little girl. My Uncle Earl, Grandma Burbank’s brother, and Jerry, my cousin, were in raptures over it every year. This is her mother’s, Helena Hunziker’s, recipe. And who knows how old it really is. The original recipe read, “2 bowls meat,” etc.
2 c minced stew meat, cooked
5 c golden yellow apples, chopped
1 c molasses
1 c butter
1 c apple cider
1 c apple cider vinegar
5 c sugar
2 c raisins or currants
1 tsp pepper
1 tsp salt
1 tsp nutmeg
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp allspice
Put this all in a crock pot and cook on low all day. I don’t know what else you would do with mince meat other than to make a pie out of it. Make 1 recipe of pastry. Roll out pastry. Line a 10- inch deep dish pie plate with half the pastry. Fill with mince meat. Top with the other half of the pastry. Bake at 425 for 30 to 40 minutes or until pastry is golden brown. Extra mince meat freezes well.
I made this for Christmas 2005. I did not like mince meat pie as a child, but thought maybe I would like it, 35 years removed from the last time I tried it. But I didn’t like it as an adult, either. But I did want to preserve this ancient family recipe.
